Repeat drunk driver to serve 7 years for DUI death

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Charles L. Smith Jr. (PHOTO: Henrico Police)

Repeat drunk driver to serve 7 years for DUI death

Charles L. Smith Jr. (PHOTO: Henrico Police)

Charles L. Smith Jr. (PHOTO: Henrico Police)

HENRICO COUNTY, VA (WTVR) – A Henrico judged sentenced a Sandston man to 26 years in jail after he killed a woman in a drunk driving accident. Most of Charles L. Smith Jr.’s 26-year sentence was suspended, meaning he’ll end up spending seven and half years locked up.

Smith plead guilty to Aggravated Manslaughter, 3rd Offense DUI and Driving with a Revoked License. He crashed his car on Meadow Road near Early Forest Circle around 2:00 a.m. on July 1, 2011. His vehicle struck a utility pole, smashed through a fence, overturned and landed on its side in the woods, according to police.

Passenger Tara Lee Mason, 37, of the 700 block of Cabbel Lane of New Canton in Buckingham County, died from injuries she sustained in the crash.